Mike Lyvers
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Areas of expertise
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I have been fascinated by the wonders of the natural world all my life. Volcanoes in particular have been a special interest of mine ever since I saw eruptions in Japan as a child back in the 1960s. There is nothing more spectacular in nature than a volcanic eruption; however, this particular passion can entail risks. Shortly after the catastrophic eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980, my father and I hired a light plane to fly over the devastated area; we were astonished to see hundreds of square miles of blown-down forest as well as the battered remains of vehicles whose owners had not been able to escape in time. In 1987 two friends and I foolishly tried to climb Arenal volcano in Costa Rica and were nearly killed by a tremendous explosion that sent car-sized volcanic bombs raining down onto the slopes above us. In 1991 my wife Leslie and I narrowly escaped a deadly pyroclastic flow at Japan’s Mt. Unzen, while the famous volcanologists Maurice and Katia Kraft (as well as 42 others) were not so lucky. I have been fortunate to see eruptions in Japan, Indonesia, Italy, the South Pacific, Africa, Hawaii, North America, Central America and South America. Other passionate interests include surfing, caving, trekking in the mountains, eclipse chasing and adventure travel. I am originally from Southern California but have not lived there since 1990; from 1990 to 1992 I lived in Japan, then lived in various parts of Europe from 1992 to 1995. Since 1995 I have been living on the beautiful Gold Coast of Queensland Australia.
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